Page 67 of The Merciless Ones
“I’m so sorry,” I say quickly, turning back to her. “I didn’t expect her to lose control so easily. I should have anticipated it.” It is, after all, exactly what I did during my very first lesson with White Hands.
“Not to worry, honoured Nuru,” Lady Kamanda replies, brushing off her robes. “I’m quite undamaged. Although I do think I should take another of my carriages while you three practise your…arts.”
“Of course,” I say, nodding, as she pulls the small bell at the side of the carriage to signal the driver.
He lets her out of the carriage, and a few seconds later, Li, now completely swathed in the opulent robes of a nobleman, enters. “We switched places,” he announces, grinning.
That is, until he sees Britta.
“Britta! Britta!” he shouts, grabbing her up. When she doesn’t respond, he whirls towards me, furious. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” I say quickly. “She just used too much energy during our lesson. Why are you so— Oh…”
My eyes widen as I abruptly remember how Britta blushed and fidgeted when I questioned her in the wagon back at Zhúshan; how she and Li pressed close together in that crowd even when they didn’t need to; how she’s been dressing her hair and clothes differently ever since he’s returned. Now that I think about it, they’ve become much closer these past few months. They don’t snipe at each other as consistently as they used to and are always off with each other now, scurrying off to all sorts of corners.
How did I not see it before? Li and Britta are becoming sweethearts, if they aren’t already.
“Oh? What oh?”
As I absorb all this, Belcalis turns to me, the gold receding from her arms and face – she armoured herself instinctively during Britta’s accidental explosion, although the gold was patchy at best. We’re going to have to work on getting to full body armour.
“What oh?” she repeats, glancing from me to Li, suspicious.
“Nothing,” I say, trying to ignore the blush creeping up Li’s face. “Let’s hurry and continue. I want you to at least have a command of the basics before we reach the Warthu Bera.”
Belcalis continues glancing from me to Li, unconvinced. Finally, she sniffs. “As long as it doesn’t have to do with our safety, it’s none of my concern. Carry on, Deka.” She waves imperiously.
I sink deeper into the combat state. “All right,” I say, letting the power wash over me. “Let’s begin from where we stopped.”
The first few stars are twinkling in the sky the next night by the time Lady Kamanda drops us off a short distance from the bottom of the hill that buttresses the leftmost side of the Warthu Bera. To my shock, a slum has sprouted there. The sides and back of the Warthu Bera were always empty of everything but thickets of trees as a preventative measure. Now, however, rows and rows of tiny, hastily built mud-and-dung huts stretch out to the horizon, all packed so tightly together, there’s barely enough room to squeeze between them. Men in coarse robes gather over brightly glowing firepits, eating skewers of roasted meats while the smoke from their bagida pipes befouls the sweltering night air. Thankfully, their eyes are too fixed on Lady Kamanda’s procession as it wends past to notice us sneaking over the hill to the thicket of trees at the very back of the Warthu Bera, where the entrance to the caverns lies.
The minute I approach those familiar red walls, rising so far up they seem to touch the sky, I’m filled with a strange, bittersweet feeling that rises over the tension tightening my muscles.
Deka? Ixa asks, curling tighter around my neck in his kitten form.
“Home,” Britta whispers, an unwitting answer to his question.
I nod, reach out to squeeze her hand. “Home, where our family is…our bloodsisters…”
“Our brothers,” Keita adds quietly, taking my other hand. He looks at me. “They’ll be all right,” he says, though I’m not certain whether he’s saying this for my benefit or his own.
Karmoko Thandiwe hasn’t heard anything from their contacts at the Warthu Bera for the past few days, so we have no inkling what awaits us beyond those walls. An oh-so-familiar fear scratches at the edges of my mind, but I breathe it away. We’re here. We have a plan. We can do this.
The bushes rustle as the karmoko walks over to us, Katya and Rian at their side, as always. The trio seem glued together now, although, if I’m being accurate, it’s Katya and Rian who follow each other everywhere. When Adwapa glances at the pair with a tinge of longing in her eyes, I walk over and squeeze her tight.
“All will be well,” I whisper. “Mehrut will be safe.”
Adwapa nods quietly, but I can feel the tension in her muscles.
Karmoko Thandiwe pulls aside a copse of bushes on a section of the wall, revealing a slightly rusted metal gate, an entrance to the caverns only they and the other karmokos know. Once they open it with the large, also rusted key they’ve kept hidden under their robes, they turn to us. “You must prepare yourselves,” they say. “Whatever is on the other side of this gate, we must conquer it, understood?”
All of us nod.
“We who are dead salute you,” they prompt.
Glancing at the others, I add: “Live for ever.”
“Live in victory,” they reply, our new battle call.